Lemon Grove trolley depot to become artistic plaza

‘A dream project in a dream town’

Artist Robin Brailsford sets up an exhibit that will show examples of the materials to be used in the Windmill Plaza project at the Lemon Grove Trolley Depot at Broadway and Main Street. Earnie Grafton / Union-Tribune photos
— Earnie Grafton

Artist Robin Brailsford sets up an exhibit that will show examples of the materials to be used in the Windmill Plaza project at the Lemon Grove Trolley Depot at Broadway and Main Street. Earnie Grafton / Union-Tribune photos
— Earnie Grafton

An artist’s sketch shows the proposed Windmill Plaza project. The artists will concentrate their work on how values from the past are coming back and will last into the future.
— Earnie Grafton

LEMON GROVE  Marcia Mattson, director of curriculum and instruction for the Lemon Grove School District, knows what interests kids.

After visiting the Lemon Grove Trolley Depot at Broadway and Main Street for a sneak peek at the public art for the upcoming urban space called Windmill Plaza, the former principal of San Miguel Elementary School was planning how she’d help get students to the plaza.

“I can already see the third-graders who study local history coming here,” Mattson said after looking at the artwork envisioned for the plaza by Robin Brailsford and Wick Alexander.

The Dulzura-based artists are collaborating with the planning and landscape architecture firm KTU+A on the trolley plaza. A grant from SANDAG for a “smart growth project” is bringing it all together.

“The kids do essays on what it would be like for a kid in Lemon Grove 100 years ago,” she said. “This will be perfect.”

Although the plaza’s design has to be approved by the City Council — which will take up the matter on Aug. 3 — the theme of “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” has won over Mattson and Lemon Grove School District Superintendent Ernie Anastos.

“I like this idea that a plaza can tell a story and link the history of Lemon Grove in a manner that is so artful and engaging,” Anastos said. “It’s definitely a place the kids can come for field trips. But it’s also for all ages; it’s for the community and for the community’s pride. This will give (Lemon Grove residents) something to feel good about.”

Alexander and Brailsford, known for their imaginative designs and dynamic styles using color and shape, work with LithoMosaic, an award-winning structural process developed by Brailsford that links mosaics with concrete.

The citrus-themed mosaics will be used in most aspects of the plaza, from public seating to a kids’ play area.

“This is a dream project in a dream town,” Brailsford said. “There’s so much history here with this building, the big lemon, the trees, the community, everything. It’s going to be fantastic.”

The artists will concentrate their work on how values from the past are coming back and will last into the future.

“Things like water conservation, recycling, transportation by bicycle and public transportation,” Alexander said. “Things like locally grown produce and sustainability.”

A “Funny Farm” trolley waiting area should be a big hit with the kids. That area includes a working windmill, water misters, a tractor that doubles as a slide and a balancing cow seesaw. The teeter-totter is based on a real-life two-cow balancing act started by the family of Kate Sessions in the 1930s to draw people out to the East County.

The “Yesterday” part of the plan includes a historical timeline with signs and interpretive panels with photographs, farm equipment and orchard products.

The “Today” theme includes an entry area with seats that look like large lemon slices, a wind turbine with a time clock, flagpoles and trolley travel information.

“Tomorrow” plans include solar panels and pedestrian lighting, a bocce ball and/or shuffleboard court and a community garden. This area is set next to senior and low-income housing that is being built.